On July 30th 2024, the second day of the event “Kiso Yoshinaka Looks Back: The Tale of the Heike Listened to by Heike Biwa, Volume 9 ‘Kisosaigo’” was held. This performance was held in Kamakura over two days, on June 25th and July 30th. This article is a report on the second day, July 30th.
Voice Introduction.
Listen to the contents of this page in MORINORI’s voice
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The Tale of the Heike, Volume 9, “Kisosaigo” – Full audio
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Time: 4 minutes 43 seconds
Recording: July 30, 2024 (live)
As the sound of the venue has been left as it is, there are some parts that are difficult to listen to.
Audio content
“Those who are far away should listen to the sound, and those who are close should see with their eyes. There is a certain man named Imainoshirou Kanehira, the wet-nurse’s child of Kiso-dono, who has now reached the age of 33. Even Kamakura-dono is said to be aware of him. He shot me with eight arrows, and then, in order to be able to meet with Hyouenosuke-dono, he shot me again and again, pulling the bow back and forth. He shot down eight of the enemy on the battlefield, not knowing whether he would live or die, and then drew his sword and cut and slashed around, but there was no one who would meet his eyes. He shot and shot, but if the armor was good, he could not get behind it, and if he did not shoot at the openings, he would not be injured.”
The entrance to the venue. There were small fruits growing above the center of the ceiling, so I passed under them gently.
I play at the window, so you can see the garden through me.
This time’s outfit
light purple plain-colored kimono, iron-blue half-width obi, gray hakama
Event Report – “Kiso Yoshinaka Looks Back” Day 2
First, read the modern translation in full
On the second day, July 30th, we changed the structure and read the modern translation in full before the narration. The reason for this was that we hoped that by first becoming familiar with the story through the modern translation, the audience would feel more familiar with Heikyoku (a form of storytelling accompanied by Heike biwa, a type of lute), and also that we did not want to break the momentum of the characters by stopping in the middle of the story.
Title: “Kiso Yoshinaka looks back”
The reason we chose the title “Kiso Yoshinaka looks back” for the concert instead of “Kiso Saigo” (the last days of the Kiso clan) was because we wanted to evoke the image of Kiso Yoshinaka looking back at the time when he looked back at the deep river with its thin layer of ice, and also the image of him looking back at the army at that time. There are said to be as many Heikyoku as there are stories in the Heike Monogatari, and the way the verses are combined differs for each story, with heroic verses being used for heroic stories and sad verses being used for sad stories. Kisosaigo seems to be a mixture of both.
I cried many times while listening to my master’s recitation during practice. In the second half, when Imaishi Shirokanehira makes his name known and goes into battle, there is a section that gives a sense of speed, and every time I get to that part, I naturally feel “Imaishi Shirokanehira is strong, and I know that better than anyone else”. Even with my poor narration, I would cry, so I wondered what this feeling was. Maybe various people have felt this way across the ages, and I feel this way too. And I think that perhaps Kiso Yoshinaka-sama feels this more strongly than anyone else, and that’s why I gave the play the title “Kiso Yoshinaka Looks Back”.
The words on the banner image “I know that woman and that man are stronger than anyone else” are also words that do not appear in the story. They are words of my own imagination, but I think that Kiso Yoshinaka knows that Tomoe and Kanehira are stronger than anyone else.
Kiso Yoshinaka looks back is scheduled to be performed again in 2025, so we will let you know as soon as the schedule is decided.
This time, it was a 60-minute performance with a modern translation and Heikyoku, with no intermission. Thanks to everyone, I was able to learn a lot about Heike biwa and storytelling. I’m sorry if I made you tired. Thank you for coming in the heat. Thank you to Garden Space Kurukuru for hosting the event. Thank you to everyone who came on the first and second days. I’m sorry I couldn’t talk to you all at length. I hope to see you again sometime.
The next concert at this venue will be
“The Last Sea, Dannoura.”
https://morinorijapan.com/lecture-and-performance/20241029
